


Babysitting

by MyOwnSuperintendent



Series: A Different Place [5]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22519492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyOwnSuperintendent/pseuds/MyOwnSuperintendent
Summary: Over the years, Samantha babysits for her nieces and nephew.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: A Different Place [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1161326
Kudos: 32





	Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my "A Different Place" AU.
> 
> I don't own The X-Files or anything related to it. Hope you enjoy!

“And may I have a number where I can reach you?” Samantha asks. “In case of emergency.”

Fox looks at her. “You know our cell numbers, Sam,” he says. “We’ve given them to you before.”

That’s true. “Well, is that where you would like me to reach you?” she asks instead. She has a list of questions that she knows she should ask, for babysitting, and she wants to make sure she has all the right information.

“Yes, that’ll be fine, Samantha,” Dana says. “But I’m sure everything will be okay.”

Samantha hopes she’s right. She hasn’t done any babysitting before. She’s mostly read about it, in the Baby-Sitters Club books, and those make it look like things are always happening. She isn’t sure that they’re very accurate, though, because some of the girls in the club are only eleven, and Dana says that anyone who would pay an eleven-year-old to watch an infant needs to have their head examined. Which makes sense, when Samantha thinks about it. When she was eleven, most of the kids in her class were very immature. But now she’s thirteen, and she said that she could watch Emily and William tonight, while Mom’s at her book club and Fox and Dana are going out for their anniversary. And they thought about it and said that she could. She knows she’s old enough, and of course she’s helped with Emily and William when other people were around, but still it’s a big responsibility, and she wants to take it seriously. She got her list of questions out of a book from the Red Cross.

She looks over it again now. “Those are all my questions,” she says. “I hope you have a very nice time at dinner.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Fox says, and he gives her a hug.

Dana is kissing Emily and William goodbye. “You’ll listen to Samantha, won’t you?” she asks, and Emily nods. William just claps his hands. He doesn’t really answer questions yet. But he’ll learn. “You should be asleep when we get back. But we’ll see you in the morning.”

“Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad,” Emily says, and everyone waves, and then they go.

It feels different, being in charge. Samantha thinks about it for a minute, after the door closes. She runs over her jobs in her head: make sure Emily and William stay safe, give them dinner, get them ready for bed. Right now, they can start with dinner, which makes her feel better, because she cooks a lot of time anyway. “We’re going to make spaghetti,” she says. “Emily, will you help me?” Emily nods again, and they go into the kitchen.

She gives Emily the vegetables to wash, and she puts William in his high chair, so she can keep an eye on him. “Do you want to play with something?” she asks him, and she gives him a bunch of plastic measuring cups. “Look,” she says. “Quarter cup, third cup, half cup, whole cup.”

She talks to him even though they can’t have a real conversation yet. Sometimes she wonders what he thinks about it. She remembers when she first came here, everyone always talking to her when she couldn’t talk back. How confused she was sometimes, but how it made her feel good too. Right now, he just says, “Cup,” and he laughs, and she smiles at him.

Spaghetti is quick to make, and after they eat, Emily helps her clean up. Then she has to put William to bed, which takes a little more time. Emily wants to read him a book, and even though Samantha’s in charge, so maybe she’s supposed to be the one to read the books, she lets Emily do it. Because Emily does read to William a lot of the time, and the book from the Red Cross said that it’s important to follow the household routines. Emily reads _Goodnight Moon_ , and Samantha sits and holds William and listens too. When the story’s done he’s almost asleep, so Samantha kisses him on the top of his head and puts him into his crib and turns off the last lamp. He doesn’t cry, so she guesses she did all right with this part of babysitting. When William’s upset, you usually know.

She plays with Emily for a while after that. Emily wants to play with dolls; she has a doll named Felicity, who she got for Christmas and who she says is her favorite person in the world. “Except Mom,” she says, “and Dad and you and William.” Tonight, they play that Felicity is riding a horse, which is what she does most of the time. “Do you think we could get a horse?” Emily asks.

“I don’t know,” Samantha says. “Where would we keep it?”

“The backyard,” Emily says. “There’s lots of space.”

Samantha thinks about it. She doesn’t know anybody who has a horse, not around here anyway. “None of us can ride a horse,” she says.

“Felicity can,” Emily says. “And if we had one, we could learn. And I would give her apples.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get one, really,” Samantha says. “You could ask your mom, though.”

Emily seems satisfied enough with that. It’s time for her to go to bed now anyway; she can pretty much get ready herself, but Samantha reminds her to take her time brushing her teeth, like Dana usually does. And she reads to her, from one of the books about Felicity.

“Well, good night,” Samantha says. “I’ll be downstairs like usual.” She doesn’t go to sleep as early as Emily, so since they share a room she always goes downstairs for a while, so she won’t bother Emily with the light.

“Okay,” Emily says. “Good night.” And then, as Samantha is leaving, “Samantha? You’re a good babysitter.”

Samantha smiles. “Thank you,” she says. She’s never babysat before, so she’s not sure exactly what you have to do to be good at it. But when she thinks back over tonight, she thinks that, probably, Emily is right.

Fox said that he was sorry to ask her for a favor on her day off, because he knows what long hours she works and he figures she probably wants to relax. That’s very considerate of him, but she really doesn’t mind. She actually thinks spending the day with Bea is pretty relaxing. For a baby, she’s very chill. And she thinks Bea will probably like spending the day here more than visiting colleges all day, with Fox and Dana and William. She’s babysat for her before, and it always goes well.

Mom says Bea looks like the other Samantha, when she was a baby (they don’t talk about that much, but she did say it once). Samantha doesn’t mind hearing it, these days, but she doesn’t really see it when she looks at the pictures. She would never say it, because Bea is her niece and she loves her and she does think she’s very special, but she’s seen a decent number of babies at the hospital, even though she doesn’t work in pediatrics, and they all have certain features in common. Bea does have the same color hair as her and Fox; her eyes are blue like Dana’s, though. Still, Samantha likes the idea that they might look alike, even if she doesn’t think it’s that noticeable.

Bea’s lying on her living room rug now, chewing on a rattle; Samantha’s made the apartment baby-proof, because she doesn’t want Fox and Dana to have to worry about that when they bring Bea over. She kicks her feet. She’s started crawling a little bit, sometimes, but she doesn’t seem in the mood right now.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Samantha says. “I could push you in the stroller. And we could go by the grocery store. I need to get some vegetables.” Bea seems to like the suggestion well enough, and Samantha gathers up her things, puts her in the stroller, and heads out the door.

She knows, from when William was a baby, that there are occasions when you have to abandon your cart and take the baby out of the store (it helps if you have another person for this, but she doesn’t today), but Bea stays calm as they walk through the aisles. She gathers what she needs quickly, talking to Bea, narrating her produce choices.

On the way home, they run into one of her neighbors, a woman named Clara who lives upstairs. They’re not really friends, but they always say hello. Today, Clara stops to make faces at Bea. “Who’s this?” she asks. “What a sweet face!”

“This is Bea,” Samantha says. “She’s my niece.”

“I could tell,” Clara says. “You really look alike.” Samantha still doesn’t see it, but maybe it’s true. “Are you babysitting?”

“Yes,” Samantha says. “For the day.”

“Aw, fun,” Clara says. “Doesn’t it make you want one of your own?”

Samantha shrugs. She loves being an aunt, loves the family she has now, but that isn’t something she thinks about, really. Maybe it’s because she’s used to family happening for her, coming together serendipitously; she’s never made the choice about whether to add on. She’s content with her life as it is now, but maybe someday something else serendipitous will happen to change that too. Or maybe not. She thinks she’d be happy either way.

“I love spending time with her, anyway,” she says. And then Clara waves and goes on her way, and Samantha walks around outside the building with Bea for a while, because the weather is so beautiful.


End file.
